A few days ago, I went on a guided tour of the Museum of Sculptures in Leganes (South of Madrid). This Museum began acquiring sculptures in 1984 and was officially inaugurated in 2005. It now has a collection of 85 works, mostly large scale. More than half of these works come from the collections of the Reina Sofia National Museum. The sculptures are exhibited in a park that is open to the public and guided tours are organized.Luis Arencibia, the director of the museum and a sculptor himself, was our guide and the visit was very interesting. I have chosen a few sculptures among all the ones we saw to show here.

I loved the figures of Adam and Eve, by Juan Bordes (born in 1948 in the Canary Islands). They are strange and very stylised, their bodies are twisted in some unreal and attractive movements.

I also liked very much Orlando furioso by Apel-les Fenosa (Barcelona, 1899- Paris 1988). In a sort of surrealistic and mythic scene, a man is carrying his own horse on his back, because the animal got wounded in battle. I find this sculpture moving.

I admired the work of Manolo González in which you see human figures dancing in the air. Luis Arencibia explained that the author had chosen very thin wires to support the figures so that they would be invisible to the spectator. They had to be changed though, because they were too fragile. So you do see the wires, but even so, the effect is quite extraordinary.

So I really enjoyed visiting this Museum of sculptures: www.museoesculturadeleganes.org. I’ll add that Leganes has the particularity of having an amazing amount of sculptures all round the town: if you include the works in the Museum, there are more than 200!

Warren, I'm sure you would like the museum.And about the "water of life", I have only seen photos of it, but I loved it too.And I agree with you about how thrilling it is to suddenly discover a stunning work of art, that's the Stendhal sydrome, isn't it!

Hola Teresa!You have found exactly the right word to describe that sculpture.Even if we don't know the ins and outs of the story of the woman of Samaria (very complicated)! it is satisfying that everyone can interpret the the scene in their own way.Such a beautiful sculpture really lifts the spirits sky high. Perhaps that is the effect of the spiral.Hasta pronto!

I absolutely agree, Warren.... In my own interpretation, the artist here could be playing a small game. These two people seem to be involved in some kind of eartly romantic affair, which doesn't correspond too much with our general idea of a byblic scene. I like to think the artist did it on purpose, as an excuse to introduce some romance in a Chester cloister garden.

...almost like in those old times in which the only "legal" nude bodies we could see in works of art were those that were part of religious or mythological episodes.

Yes, Teresa! They are both full of passion and yearning so you can't help thinking they would like to kiss!I was so impressed at the time that I wrote to Stephen Broadbent and told him his work made me think of Rodin. He never replied so I hope he was too busy working hard! I had in mind 'The eternal idol' I think. I'm looking forward to seeing you soon so that we can talk about it some more! It is endlessly fascinating.